Museums started out as Renaissance Wunderkammern -- private "wonder chambers" where the well-heeled could display their collections of wondrous stuff, whether made by nature or by man. They were about the pleasure to be had from the glories of God-given and man-made plenty. It turned out that one way to enjoy and profit from that plenty was to catalogue it, sort it out, find the laws and regularities behind it -- to learn from it and all about it. Most of the natural sciences and many of the humanities took off from those Renaissance treasure chests. The private displays themselves eventually evolved into public museums -- of art and history and science.